1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the planning and scheduling of resources and, more particularly, to the problem of scheduling resources in a resource constrained environment. The invention relates to that class of data processing generally known as expert or knowledge-based systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Resource constrained environments are found in a wide variety of contexts such as communications systems, range resources in the command and control arena, and shared aircraft support systems. For example, ground-based systems for satellite command, control and communications operations require a method for planning, scheduling and assigning the range resources such as antenna systems scattered around the world, communications systems and personnel. The method must accommodate user priorities, last minute changes, maintenance requirements, and exceptions from nominal requirements. Solutions to the scheduling problem are becoming more important as budget constraints and increasingly complex resource configurations force customers to find efficient methods of scheduling those resources.
Prior art resource scheduling efforts addressed a simpler problem. The objective of past efforts was to schedule as many requests as possible, under priority and constraint stipulations. The conventional method used for resource scheduling is mathematical programming. Mathematical programming is combinatorially explosive (and computationally intensive) in its search for the optimum solution to a problem as it considers all requests simultaneously. The class of problem addressed by the present invention is outside of the realm of mathematical programming due to the size of the problem (number of requests, resources and constraints) and processing time limitations.